Vietnam veteran to get his benefits

VA rules on appeal after more than two years

April 06, 2013|Paul Muschick | The Watchdog

I've shown repeatedly how the Department of Veterans Affairs doesn't move swiftly to process veterans' claims for benefits. Maybe veterans would accept that pace if they knew the agency made up for it with accuracy.

Vietnam veteran Matthew Ford had been waiting an inexcusable two years and seven months on his latest appeal for disability benefits when I wrote about his case three weeks ago.

Eight days after that column, the agency granted Ford his benefits, saying a previous denial was "legally erroneous."

"Why didn't you guys catch this in the first place?" said a frustrated Ford, who had been seeking benefits since 1995 for breathing problems he contended were the result of his Army service.

The VA had ruled against him several times. Each time he appealed, and each time his claim was remanded, keeping it alive. That led to his most recent appeal in 2010, which had been languishing without explanation.

The wait ended March 25 when the Board of Veterans' Appeals ruled in his favor.

Parker said the board improperly discredited the opinions of Ford's private physicians, who said his lungs could have been damaged when he burned human waste with gasoline in a camp cleanup detail in Vietnam in 1970.

"They were not supposed to rely on their own VA doctor," said Ford, of Hanover Township, Northampton County. "That is the law, and that is what they did."

Why it took the Board of Veterans' Appeals so long to decide his appeal is one of those Washington mysteries. For five months, his case was unaccounted for somewhere in the system.

It was docketed with the board on Feb. 18, 2011, said Steve Keller, the board's acting chairman. From there, Ford had to wait his turn, as appeals are considered in the order they are docketed.

But Ford filed his appeal well before February 2011. He mailed it on Aug. 31, 2010. The VA, in a letter to Ford, even acknowledged receiving it on Sept. 2, 2010. Keller told me he could not explain why it wasn't docketed immediately.

He told me the average case processing time is 241 days. Ford's case took about 900 days.

"That's unusual," Keller told me. "I'm not sure why it took that long."

He said the file was transferred briefly so it could be reproduced after Ford asked for a copy of one of the rulings, which I'd requested from him. But Keller told me he doubts that added much time to the delay.

Ford suspects his appeal was buried in Washington because he crafted a 42-page rebuttal citing case law that the board had to consider.

"It shows you that all that research I did in that law library, it paid off," he told me.

He thinks my column on the delay in his case kicked the VA into gear.

"Your article blackened their eye," Ford said.

Keller said my column had no influence.

"I'm sure the judge had no idea that you'd written an article," he told me.

In denying Ford's claim, the VA had relied on an exam by one of its specialists, who said Ford's current health problems wouldn't be related to the 1970 burn detail because he didn't develop symptoms immediately.

Ford said he did, and went to the camp clinic. He said he waited for hours without being seen, so he gave up and left. The VA says there are no records of that visit, and that Ford has provided inconsistent accounts of whether he received treatment. Ford attributes the lack of records to the dispensary later being damaged in an enemy attack.

One of Ford's private physicians had said burning human feces could trigger asthma in some people. Another had said it was possible the burn duties played a role in the development of bronchial inflammation and reactive airways disease.

The Board of Veterans' Appeals should have considered that evidence when it rejected his claim in 2010, Parker ruled.

"The board decision incorrectly applied the law and regulations pertaining to the assessment of medical opinion evidence," he wrote.

The ruling does not specify the level of disability granted to Ford. That will come later. But I hope not too much later.

Disability ratings are calculated as percentages. Ford currently has a disability rating of 50 percent for military-related health issues, including problems with his back and from a leg injury suffered when he jumped from a helicopter.

Ford told me he hopes other veterans will follow his lead and not give up fighting for benefits they believe they are owed.

"Hopefully, this will inspire other people," he said.

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